Baa-me Kniits

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Blogger has been a bugger for me all week and is refusing to let me post so I have gone back to the old editor and it seems to be working. You will have to excuse the old outdated style. If it isn't bad enough that no one can comment on my blog now I have to put up with the outdated editor and try to think in reverse when adding in my photos.

Patience is a virtue is it not?

Do you like this colour? Want to see how I did it?

Remember the lovely white wool that I spun a few weeks ago....

I 'Navaho' plied it, which means that is is 3 strands instead of 2 so it will be a bit of a chunky yarn....

Now I couldn't just leave it white could I....

Pre soaking....

A splash of a yummy colour....

Bring to the slow boil....

Add the vinegar and check after 5 mins to see if the colour is being absorbed into the fibre, looking good....

One more lot of vinegar and PERFECT....

Ready to go, isn't that colour just the best!

I have used Greener Shades, Heavy metal and acid free dyes. They are so easy to use and you can purchase them on line from Pancake and Lulu on Etsy. Best of all they are good for our enviroment and that makes me happy :-)

I washed and blocked the finished pieces of my 'hoodie'....

and I am now on the final straight, it is getting very heavy in my lap and I'm afraid it is looking HUGE!

I did knit the large because they showed the small on a lovely little model. I am not a petite little thing although I am short, I am definitely a sporty muscled physique and I love oversized jumpers. This one also only has a closure at the neck so it is open all the way down, I will need room to wear layers underneath it.

Here's hoping it will be OK once I have done the sewing up, fingers crossed XX

Sunday, July 17, 2011

It is Sunday again! Although this week I am not in my Pyjamas because I have been doing bookwork for most of the day. What that has to do with being in my PJ's I don't know because I am at home. Maybe I feel like I should dress for work??

I have had a little play on the computer and I came up with this....

I couldn't resist!

I've been for a walk down to the bottom paddock to check out Clover who is due to have her second calf in about a week....

She is starting to look like a barrel on legs!

I finished the boys pencil cases. They saw some camouflage material last time we were in Spotlight and insisted I buy it. I was asked to make pillow cases for their beds to match the blankets I made a few weeks ago. There was a small amount left over....

I was working on my cowl. I ripped it back three times and I still managed to have a double twist in it??? I have decided that the wool is telling me it doesn't want to be a cowl! So it has been frogged yet again and put into the back of the stash cupboard for a future project.

I did start this project though and that seems to be going a lot better. I had the wool from last year and it just needed to be wound into balls as it came as skeins....

I have a pattern for a 'hoodie' with a mock cable running up the front panels. I purchased the wool online and thought it was more of an orange colour (computer monitors can make colours deceiving). It has some orange in it but it is more a purple/blue mix. It makes me think of Scottish Heather.

Want to see what else the Pyjama Gang has been doing?? Pop over to SunshineParadise.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

My blog is usually a crafty type of blog but those who know me well know that my other love is horses....

This video makes me cry....both tears of sadness for the misunderstanding and then happiness for the people who 'get it'

This lady Stacey Westfall REALLY gets it! Such a delight to watch....

This is Georgia Bruce Australia's Equestrian Paralympian. She also gets it! She won bronze in Dressage in the last Olympics. Georgia is a local to my area and I did a clinic with her on how to Clicker Train Your Horse. I have used this method before with dogs but it was a real eye opener to learn how to work better WITH our horses.

I have recently rescued this little fellow and he had been mistreated somewhere along the way so he is very scared and nervous around people. We don't know his history but the vet thinks he is about 2yrs old, still a full male and we think he is a Welsh Pony cross. We could all be totally wrong!!

I have had him four weeks now and been doing the positive reward Clicker Training. At first he was totally untouchable and very frightened. I bonded with him straight away and rewarded him everytime he came towards me and persevered until I could put a halter on him and attatch a lead rope. He is now at liberty in the paddock with all the rest of the gang and he comes up to me willingly for a pat and a scratch (no food involved).

Yesterday he was sleeping in the front of the stables and another horse charged out of the stables to get away from a tetchy mate, the horse ran right past him obviously running away from something ( or someone) and the little fellow just kept on sleeping. Didn't bat an eyelid! It gave me an enourmous amout of pleasure to see that as it means he is relaxed and happy at our house.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Coincidentally as others are extolling the virtues of the lovely fleece and spinning, I too have been playing at my wheel....

This is Merino roving and in my favourite autumn colours. It comes from Dragonfly Fibres over on Etsy and they have named it Turning Leaves, how could I resist? Definitely ' The Colours of Happiness'!!

Spun into a Single....

And plyed together. After resting the newly spun yarn needs a little bath. You would thing that wool that has already been processed and then dyed would be clean wouldn't you? After all I have only handled it minimally.....

I'm always surprised at how much dirt a fleece can hold! My yarn is now drying and will soon reveal its lovely plumpness and I will be able to make something out of my new colours.

We went to the stunning Lake Eacham today for my fibrecrafters morning and the boys had fun exploring the walking tracks that surround the lake. After I did a bit of spinning (and chatting ), the boys and I walked right round the lake. It's a lovely walk and this time was the first time we have all done it without any complaining from the smaller legs brigade. Here are some photos (not the clearest because it is dark in the rainforest)....

Look at the roots hanging down from the fig that has grown all over its host tree....

Some lovely fungus....

A huge fig tree and its buttress's....

These little flowers drop from one of the rainforest trees and ever since the boys have been tiny we have called them the stars of the forest, they look just like the stars at night scattered all over the forest floor....

and a sneak peek at my drying yarn....

You can see some more fabulously fleecy stuff over on Ravelry in this Tour de Fleece. It snuck up on me this year but I think next year I may have to join in :-)

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Today though Billy has the boys and is delivering loads of firewood so that I can catch up on the end of financial year bookwork, YUCK!! I am not a fan of bookwork, BUT it is my job to do it.Billy spreads the fertilizer in his truck and I do all the bookwork, we are a team. I am sure when he is having a troublesome day with the truck he says YUCK as well. :-)

Have I shown you our truck?? We are proud of it as it is the only one in North Queensland....

This photo was taken when we first got her in 2007, I rarely see her now as she is kept in our shed which is situated about 50kms away, closer to all the farms that we spread fertilizer on. Billy only brings her home if he has a job up our way, saves him doing double driving.

She is a mighty machine. Four wheel drive and goes anywhere. The farmers love her. Billy has been spreading fertilizer on the farms up here for about 20yrs now. He knows what everyone's farm looks like, and he takes that truck up and down some mountains. I have been in the truck (before kids) and I can tell you nerves of steel are required. The boys sometimes go for a ride but only on a flat farm. Its too easy to slip off a hill.

I have been doing a bit of crochet....

I am crocheting a cowl in that lovely chunky stitch that my friends hat was made in. The cowl has a twist in it so that it sits nicely around your neck except after doing about 10 rows I noticed that I have two twists....

Grrrrr....

I figured that you loop it around your neck anyway so I will just loop it before I put it round my neck....Hmmmm I may still be frogging it??